


This Old Broken Heart

by FallenInTheWetTypeWater



Category: Red Dwarf (UK TV)
Genre: Angst, Hidden Feelings, Lack of Communication, Love Confessions, M/M, Multi, Mutual Pining, Songfic, They’d be great together if they’d just TALK, Unrequited Love, when words fail music speaks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2021-01-18 13:14:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21277199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FallenInTheWetTypeWater/pseuds/FallenInTheWetTypeWater
Summary: Set post - Back To Earth, pre - Series XInstead of just talking to each other like well-adjusted adults, Lister prefers to get drunk and talk to Kochanski’s grave, and Rimmer takes to playing the piano in a sound-dampened room. Rimmer’s song choice speaks volumes.
Relationships: Dave Lister & Arnold Rimmer, Dave Lister/Arnold Rimmer, Kristine Kochanski & Dave Lister, Kristine Kochanski/Dave Lister
Comments: 5
Kudos: 28





	This Old Broken Heart

**Author's Note:**

> So I had the idea of Rimmer singing a version of Jolene while listening to Both Sides of Dolly Parton after binging Red Dwarf and posted it on Tumblr where rear-admiral-rimmer suggested a song-fic so here it is.

Slowly but surely Lister was getting over her. Again. He was. Definitely was. Absolutely one hundred and twenty-five percent moving on. Which was why he was currently staggering back from drinking and crying and ranting at her grave in the observation dome. Again. He knew she wasn’t really there. Knew she was out there somewhere looking for her Much Better Lister and not floating frozen in the wastes of spaces. But still there was that little hope flickering away in the ashes of his mind that somehow she would be able to hear him. He missed having someone to talk to. _Really _talk to.

As he meandered through G deck, swinging a mostly empty lager can from his fingertips by the rim, a soft new sound began to weave itself though the hum of the air vents. Lister paused and cocked his head like a curious spaniel. It sounded like music. He followed the sound to one of the small rooms previously used for onboard music lessons. Expecting a twangy harpsichord or an accordion polka, Lister tentatively cracked open the sound-dampened door. Instead what he heard made him nearly drop his lager.

A hauntingly beautiful piano ballad lilted out from a baby grand pushed up against the wall. An all too familiar shiny blue-jacketed back hunched over the keys singing sadly. 

_“Take these old used memories from the past_

_And these broken dreams and plans that didn't last_

_I'll trade them for a future, I can't use them anymore_

_I've wasted love but I still have some more_

_The bargain store is open, come inside_

_You can easily afford the price”_

Lister was stunned. He’d often joked that Rimmer was such a good singer because he was once Alexander the Great’s chief eunuch, and had never actually heard him sing sober, but he had to admit the man was _good. _

Rimmer sighed and finished the song early, shoulders drooping as he rubbed his palms on his thighs. Lister was about to make his presence known when after a long, deep sigh Rimmer took up the keys again.

_“Kristine, Kristine, Kristine, Kristine_

_I’m begging of you please don’t take my man”_

Lister blinked, half-convinced he was hearing things. Surely he didn’t just hear…

“_Kristine, Kristine, Kristine, Kristine_

_Please don’t take him just because you can”_

Oh smeg, he had heard it right.

_“Your beauty is beyond compare_

_With flaming locks of auburn hair_

_With ivory skin and eyes of emerald green_

_Your smile is like a breath of spring_

_Your voice is soft like summer rain_

_And I cannot compete with you_

_Kristine”_

Rimmer’s voice began to tremble, his breath hitching at line ends, determined to keep it together.

_“He talks about you in his sleep_

_And there's nothing I can do to keep_

_From crying when he calls your name_

_Kristine_

_And I can easily understand_

_How you could easily take my man_

_But you don't know what he means to me_

_Kristine”_

Lister’s jaw dropped and he sagged against the door frame, each word crashing over him like the officer’s bath induced flood that knocked out Holly.

_“You could have your choice of men_

_But I could never love again_

_He's the only one for me_

_Kristine”_

Rimmer began to lose the battle for his voice. The final verse practically a prayer.

_“I had to have this talk with you_

_My happiness depends on you_

_And whatever you decide to do_

_Kristine”_

Lister turned and slumped against the corridor wall, tears streaming down his face. An old conversation with Kochanski replayed itself over and over within his mind. _He sacrificed his happiness to keep you sane._

_“I didn’t know.” _He sobbed to the ceiling. _“I didn’t know.”_

**Author's Note:**

> Songs used are The Bargain Store and Jolene by Dolly Parton from her Both Sides of Dolly Parton vinyl album.


End file.
